Ed4252 wrote:Thanks for everyone's response. So individual stocks wouldn't be a good idea even if it's only a portion of my portfolio like 30-50%??

thats mostly right. theres nothing wrong with holding individual stocks if you are holding quite a few of them (something like 30+). holding 5 isnt going to get you sufficient diversification so it generally isnt a strategy for long-term investing. its OK to have some carefully selected individual stocks to complement your other mutual fund holdings. i dont know what % is optimal for you but i would think something significantly less that 30-50%.

Is there a way to evaluate mutual funds based on how much risk/growth they will have?

talk to your broker or if you are doing it yourself check out sites like motley fool (fool.com).

Ed4252 wrote:Talked to a financial advisor today at Fidelity today and boy am I confused after it.

I'm a young investor so I don't have much to begin with. With $4,000 to work with he suggested the following:

75% ETFs/Mutual Funds (pick 3-4) - have 20% of that go into international ETFs?

25% into individual stocks -with only $1000, how many individual stocks should I buy and how to diversify?

Again, check out the CGM Focus Fund. Look at the track record over the past few years. I have money there and I'm very happy with it. It is riskier though. Not many stocks in the fund and he goes in and out a lot.

If your investing for retirement, set up a roth IRA through your employer like RugbyD said and then watch the magic of compounding returns go to work for you. I would put a certain percentage of your wages into the fund every month, even if its only $50 its worth it. If you're looking at a more medium-term horizon, I would consider putting some money into a more aggressive/growth oriented fund that Fidelity or any other brokerage firm offers. You take on more risk, but you also earn greater returns.

Hope that helped! If the Fidelity advisor didn't really help you that much or confused you, I would definitely try somewhere else. Its really important that you understand what they are doing with your money and how they are investing it.

if your employer doesn't match, there's no reason to do the 401 if a Roth is useful for you tax-wise unless you know you are going to hit your annual contribution limit for the IRA. If so then you put the extra in the 401.